Aged for Malice by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2021-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The small, but luxuriously equipped hair salon in Collina was doing a brisk morning trade. Two hairdressers were hard at work and, staring through the glassed shop front, Olivia was thrilled to recognize one of them.

Francesca, Danilo’s niece, was completing her practical hours toward her hairdressing qualification. She’d told Olivia that she was working locally, and today, here she was.

The pretty, slim young woman was putting on the artful finishing touches to a shiny bobbed hairdo. The middle-aged owner of it was staring into the ornately framed mirror looking satisfied.

Francesca smiled in delight as Olivia walked in.

“Ciao, Olivia! Are you happy with your hair?”

“I’m loving it,” Olivia replied. “I’ve come to buy more shampoo.”

“One minute, and I will assist.”

After hair-spraying the bob, Francesca removed the woman’s cape. “We are all done, signora,” she said politely in Italian.

Then, switching to English, she sidled closer to Olivia.

“I was shocked to hear what happened last night. Clients have been speaking of nothing else. I called Danilo immediately to check you were not hurt in the struggle.”

Olivia sighed. “Village gossip got it wrong. I wasn’t involved in any struggle. But someone else was. A man ran away from the scene, and I need to find out who he was. Clearly, he was the actual killer.”

As she spoke, Olivia realized something with a nasty twist of her stomach. There was in fact one other suspect that she had not considered until now.

Danilo could have committed the crime himself. After all, she’d found him alone with the deceased. Had he wielded the rock in a moment of protective rage, wanting to keep Olivia safe?

She was sure he couldn’t have done such a thing, and in fact wished she’d never thought of it. Especially at that moment, while face to face with his favorite niece who was now staring oddly at her.

Her thoughts must be showing on her face. Pulling herself together and doing her best to banish this disturbing and clearly wrong idea, Olivia continued.

“I know one of the excavation crew who uncovered my cellar had his hair cut after working the site. He said he spoke to his hairdresser about his day. I would like to know how much detail he went into.”

Francesca nodded, and Olivia could see that she understood.

“I remember when he came in. He was very excited. While Tomaso did his hair he was talking nonstop about the site that he’d excavated,” she said in a low voice, glancing around to check nobody was listening.

Hope rekindled inside Olivia as Francesca selected a shampoo for her from the well-stocked shelves. Questions formed in her mind, important ones, which would hopefully pave the way to the identity of the mysterious running man.

“What exactly did he say?” she asked.

“He said how amazing it was that a large cellar full of wine could have been constructed in the middle of a small field, and then covered with boulders, so many years ago. He and Tomaso spoke about it for a while. They had quite a detailed discussion, working out exactly where the field is.

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